Step 11: Emerging from the Chrysalis

Step 12: Releasing the Butterfly

Monarch butterfly caterpillars are fun to raise until they form chrysalises and ultimately emerge transformed as butterflies. This instructable takes you even further back in the butterfly life cycle and describes how to raise a monarch from a newly-laid egg into a fully grown butterfly.

I have also raised Swallowtail butterflies from eggs found on parsley in a fashion similar to that described here. I would be interested in hearing about the experiences of other readers in locating and identifying the eggs of other types of butterflies.

July 2 -- Transfer eggs to a fresh leaf in anticipation of the eggs hatching.July 3 -- Two hatched by early morning and the remaining three by noon.July 5 -- Colored bands becoming apparent.July 8 -- Getting bigger.

Step 2: Milkweed

Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed and the caterpillars eat milkweed. If you are going to find monarch butterfly eggs, you have to first find milkweed. Fortunately, milkweed grows throughout the United States. Unfortunately, it is treated as a weed and rooted out. Find a patch that's going to be around and start looking for both eggs and caterpillars.

Milkweed has wonderful flower clusters that attract butterflies. I grow a patch outside my kitchen door. My neighbor grows a lots of flowering plants and I believe his flowers attract butterflies and then they come on over to lay their eggs!

I have raised monarchs for 12 years, the best way to harvest the eggs is to cut them (and a small section of leaf) out and float it in a shallow dish of water preventing them from drying out. I've attached a photos of this year's harvest so far.

Thank you for this wonderful instructable! Please sign up to report milkweed and Monarch migration here: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/ Lots of info & interesting things for the kids here as well! Only 5 more weeks until the butterflies start their migration north from their winter home in Mexico. 2/12/13

Newly hatched larvae are cannibalistic. They will eat other eggs, so for this reason you must keep each egg in a separate container. If you put all of the eggs on one new leaf (as the image shows), OR if you have a cutting with more than one egg on it (as the above commenter recommends), the larvae that hatch first can and will eat the unhatched eggs.

See this photo for an example: http://www.butterflyfunfacts.com/images/eggs.monarch.eat.unhatched.6.jpg

This is a very inspiring instructable, thanks! Some of our students at school are hatching butterflies at the moment (from chrysalises that a parent bought), but it makes sense to find eggs and start from them.

I've been trying to get photos of different butterflies for my album, but now I have a new project - looking for eggs (no milkweed here, so it could be a difficult project - I'll have to research our local butterflies).

They eat their entire caterpillar-hood. They can climb from leaf to leaf and have no desire to "escape" the milkweed, if it is not wilted and lousy. They may leave when they are ready to make the chrysalis, and crawl under whatever they can suspend the chrysalis from.

If you take an entire stem and put it in a vase, the caterpillars can move from leaf to leaf on their own. Put some newspaper or a cookie sheet under the stem, in case they fall off, or you don't want the frass (poop) to go everywhere.

Awesome instructable! Last night my wife said "Let's do that!". I haven't done this since I was a kid so I said ok. It just so happens I have a huge milkweed in my backyard. So this morning I went out to it and lo & behold I ended up with 4 eggs, and 7 caterpillars of all different sizes from newly hatched to inch & a half! My wife has never done this so she is in for an amazing surprise! Thank you for bringing out the kid in me again! Now it's time to sit and wait!